During the cold months, it seems that I make a chicken nearly every week, either roasting one with vegetables or cooking it in water to make stock for soups and such. Yesterday, I found myself with a chicken but not much else, so I winged it and created what can only be described as “simple chicken and dumplings”. The flavor was mild and comforting. I was lacking parsley, but in the future, I’d snip some into the dumpling dough and maybe onto the dish before serving.

Easy Chicken + Dumplings

For the stew:

One chicken, around three-pounds, or a little more
Two stalks of celery, scrubbed clean and cut into thirds
Two carrots, scrubbed clean and cut in thirds
One large onion, cut in half
One bay leaf
Two more carrots for final stew, peeled and thinly sliced
Poultry seasoning, 3/4 teaspoon
Salt + pepper, to taste

For the dumplings:

Two cups of flour
Four teaspoons of baking powder
One teaspoon of salt
Four tablespoons of canola (or preferred) oil
About 3/4 cup of milk
Fresh parsley, chopped

Put chicken in stock pot with vegetables and bay leaf. Cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 1-1/4 hours or more, until the chicken is done and begins to fall off the bone. Remove the chicken. Use tongs to pick out bones and most of carcass, and put these back into the simmering liquid. Continue to simmer for another 1/2-hour to hour, until the stock is a bit more concentrated and has cooked down some. Remove carcass and pour liquid through a sieve into another pot. Bring liquid to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add carrots, stir in seasonings. Add desired amount of cleaned chicken back to the liquid, diced or shredded.

Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add oil and milk and parsley. Mix until a ball of dough forms. Scoop one-tablespoon amounts of dough and drop into liquid. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve in shallow bowls and sprinkle with parsley.

All weekend, I’ve been keeping notes in my head about little things that I want to log, like recipe suggestions and good times with family and a great site that I found and how all the world is beautiful. Something like that. And then the toxicity of the medications that I am on leave me sleeping on the bathroom floor at night and just wishing that I was a napper during the days.

Patience.

I will journal what I can when I can. This week, I am going to update that gosh darned recipe page. A few new additions will include the creamy stuffed mushrooms from Food52, onion dip, ranch dip, and, although I fear of spontaneously combusting into flames while typing this, a bacon-chicken appetizer from Paula Deen.

I’ve been hard on Paula Deen. I’m sorry, Paula. It just takes a lot for me to swallow a Georgian accent. Most days I can’t even stand the sound of a radio.

From Monday morning until Friday afternoon, unless I am specifically tuning in for something on the television like, say, Community, I live in almost complete silence. (Friday through Sunday evening? I cringe a lot.) Those weekdays when the moment isn’t silent? Silas and I are tearing it up. Welcome to my home, it’s either a library or a party.

I hope that you have pumped yourself up or quieted yourself down appropriately!